Artist: Forbidden Dialect
Album: Orange Sessions
Source: Artist
Tracklisting:
1. Peoples
2. Eat my WOrds
3. Good Shite
4. Claymore Cafe
5. Long Tail
6. 40 Mules
7. Sueño del Carajo
8. Walk with Paris
9. Cycle Logic
10. Aopkhes
11. Sad City f/ Scrap Iron Jame
12. DMZ
13. Traffic Jam
14. Monumental
15. Scat Song
16. Small Favors
Note:
Give me something different. Something unique. Give me…some more music from Forbidden Dialect! I reviewed their first joint, More Than Your Money’s Worth, more than a year ago. I found it on my own, web surfing and thought it was refreshing. This time Forbidden Dialect sent me the link to their new album. I thought to myself, “What are the chances that this album is as good as the first?” I was incredulous, but to my pleasant surprise, Orange Sessions, is probably better than their first effort. If More Than Your Money’s Worth is initially fresh, then Orange Sessions is consistently vibrant. It simply follows in the footsteps of it’s predecessor and expands upon that foundation. When you have six (count them) talented artists, with diverse backgrounds, then it is inevitable that you are going to get a very unique album.
The thing that really is distinct about this album is the production. It’s simply different than what you are used to hearing, and in this case that’s a really good thing. One of my favorite joints from the album that illustrates this difference in production is Claymore Cafe. There is just so much going on in this song. There is a crashing symbols, there is an Asian vocal sample, there are some horns, some guitars, and a bicycle bell? All of those sounds fade in and out along with other more subtle samples giving this track a depth unlike any other. All three emcees sound nice on this track and their individual style really just compliment the production.
Another track that I wanted to touch on is, Sad City. It starts off with just a strumming bass line and then comes to the drums. The first emcee, Jason starts delivering staccato bars, before an altered bluesy sample enters into the track. Then Izzy really drops a gem of a verse. I can only quote a snippet as the internal rhyme after a few bars is just hard to capture. You will just have to listen to hear for yourself. But…
It’s that soul of a slave shit / Born on a slave ship / Live on a farm and then die with the angels / Way of life…nature / Always been a creative innovator
The whole album is terrific, but if you had to pick that it track, it would be Traffic Jam. And as opposed to the rest of the album, the lyricists really drive this song. That’s not to discount this production. At some points it is driven by bongo percussion and other times by guitar. Every piece of the beat is a great canvas for theses emcees to weave their words. I want to focus on the third verse, by Flux, in particular:
This is the part of the story when everything collapses / And I am just going to lie in my bed and take a nap / If I ever claimed to be a know-it-all, I take it back / All I know how to do is make a rap / Rap / It goes one of the money, two for the show / Three for the help when you’re losing control / Four for the coffee / Five for the beers / Six for the reflection found inside your tears / When you have no girl to write to / No God to worship / No car to drive / No job to work at…
That entire verse is probably one of my favorite this year. It’s a lot for the mental to digest as we all can find something to relate to in it.
Orange Sessions is an album like any other you will hear this year and Forbidden Dialect is unlike any collective you have ever heard. This album has boom-bap, funk, blues, jazz, and latin rhythms all rolled into one. Give me one other album from this year that incorporates all of those sounds? When it comes to the lyrical content of this album, I could only scratch the tip of the iceberg. If you are looking for something heavy, try listening to Monumental or the Scat Song. If you are looking for just good wordplay without the deep content, you can stick with Eat My Words or Sueno del Carajo. Forbidden Dialect is doing something more with music than your typical hip hop group. So when I say they are great artists, I mean that in the truest sense of the word.
Hip Hop Dependency 